{"id":208963,"date":"2026-04-24T23:39:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T23:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/208963\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T23:39:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T23:39:49","slug":"poetry-challenge-day-5-the-role-of-poetry-in-our-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/208963\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry Challenge Day 5: The Role of Poetry In Our Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Poetry Challenge<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s learn one poem together this week. <\/a> <\/p>\n

The Poetry Challenge<\/p>\n

See Full Poem & Readings Play Game <\/p>\n

\"A.O.<\/a>\"Aliza<\/a> <\/p>\n

We\u2019ve come to the end of our Poetry Challenge. In four days, we\u2019ve committed the four stanzas of \u201cThe More Loving One\u201d to memory, and taken some time to ponder its intricacies and appreciate its meaning. (Just joining us? Start here anytime<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Now what?<\/p>\n

In one of his notebooks Auden observes that \u201ca poem or a novel is a gratuitous not a useful object, like a lathe or an automobile.\u201d He wasn\u2019t being modest or dismissive. The impracticality of poetry is a feature, not a bug. It doesn\u2019t do anything, which may be why, as a species, we can\u2019t seem to do without it.<\/p>\n

From one of Auden\u2019s notebooks, dated 1945-61. Copyright by The Estate of W.H. Auden. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd. W.H. Auden papers, Berg Collection, The New York Public Library. Photograph by Angelina Katsanis for The New York Times.<\/p>\n

This is how Auden assessed poetry\u2019s value in his elegy \u201cIn Memory of W.B. Yeats\u201d:<\/p>\n

For poetry makes nothing happen: it survives<\/p>\n

In the valley of its making where executives<\/p>\n

Would never want to tamper, flows on south<\/p>\n

From ranches of isolation and the busy griefs,<\/p>\n

Raw towns that we believe and die in; it survives,<\/p>\n

A way of happening, a mouth.<\/p>\n

W.H. Auden, \u201cIn Memory of W.B. Yeats\u201d<\/p>\n

Poetry is part of everyday human reality, and also one of our tools for taking stock of that reality and commemorating our passage through it, alone and together.<\/p>\n

A poem is a gift \u2014 a gratuity, you might say, offered for no special reason. Auden\u2019s gifts were abundant, and his generosity was legendary. His biographer Edward Mendelson has documented<\/a> a pattern of discreet, sometimes secret kindness directed at friends, colleagues and strangers: money lent; hospital bills paid; hospitality offered freely along with food, companionship and advice.<\/p>\n

Auden\u2019s later work often operates in a similar spirit. Some of his best verse of the postwar era takes the form of letters, wedding toasts, public remarks and dinner-party witticisms, as if poetry were a grand game of words with friends.<\/p>\n

W.H. Auden in company. Alamy<\/p>\n

\u201cThe More Loving One,\u201d first published in Britain at Christmastime in 1957, is a modest, thoughtful present for the reading public. (A few years later, as it happens, it ran in the Book Review<\/a>.) At first glance, its intention seems to be, above all, to provide a bit of amusement. Anyone can pick it up, pass it along, tuck it away, find a time and place for it \u2014 as we have done this week.<\/p>\n

Should we hear it once more, before we go?<\/p>\n

Add your voice to the chorus! Share your reading with us below. <\/p>\n

As we have seen, there is much more to these lines than clever words and pleasing sentiments. Auden applies the balm of irony and rhyme to matters that might otherwise be too grave, too daunting, too scary to deal with. Are we alone in the universe? How should we love? Why should we care?<\/p>\n

Instead of a definitive response, Auden offers a thought experiment. Suppose the worst: stars that don\u2019t give a damn; asymmetrical affections; an empty sky. What are we to do?<\/p>\n

The answer \u2014 care anyway! \u2014 reflects the eccentric, stubborn Christianity of Auden\u2019s later years. Faced with the possibility of nothing, the speaker nonetheless chooses to surrender, to love, to believe. This is not a practical decision. It\u2019s an aesthetic impulse, an entirely gratuitous choice.<\/p>\n

A copy of \u201cThe More Loving One,\u201d handwritten by Auden. Copyright by The Estate of W.H. Auden. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd. W.H. Auden papers, Berg Collection, The New York Public Library. Photograph by Angelina Katsanis for The New York Times.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a refusal of solitude. We picture the speaker alone, looking up at the chilly night sky, talking himself through his mixed feelings about it. But of course he isn\u2019t alone. We\u2019ve been here the whole time, accepting the gift and sharing it, standing beside our poet as he beholds the stars.<\/p>\n

The final challenge: You\u2019ve been training for this all week. Now show off what you know. <\/p>\n

Fill in the entire poem! Need more practice? Listen to Ada Lim\u00f3n, Matthew McConaughey, W.H. Auden and others recite it.<\/p>\n

\"Ada\"Matthew\"W.H. Watch their full readings <\/p>\n

Question 1\/8<\/p>\n

We\u2019re going to do the whole poem, starting from the top. You\u2019ll have emoji hints for each round. \ud83d\udc40\ud83d\udc46\u2728\ud83e\udd13\ud83e\udde0\ud83d\ude42\u200d\u2195\ufe0f4\ufe0f\u20e3\ud83e\udec2\ud83c\udfc3\ud83c\udffb\ud83d\ude08 <\/p>\n

Looking\u00a0up\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0stars,\u00a0I\u00a0know\u00a0quite\u00a0well\u00a0<\/p>\n

That,\u00a0for\u00a0all\u00a0they\u00a0care,\u00a0I\u00a0can\u00a0go\u00a0to\u00a0hell,\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lookingquitewell<\/p>\n

hellfor<\/p>\n

Tap a word above to fill in the highlighted blank.<\/p>\n

What did you think of our Poetry Challenge? <\/p>\n

THE POETRY CHALLENGE<\/p>\n

Memorize a beautiful poem. <\/p>\n

After you\u2019ve taken our challenge, get weekly updates on the latest in books from your
\n\t\t\t\tfriends at the Book Review.<\/p>\n

Ready for another round? Try your hand at the 2025 Poetry Challenge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Edited by Gregory Cowles, Alicia DeSantis and Nick Donofrio. Additional editing by Emily Eakin,
\n\tJoumana Khatib, Emma Lumeij and Miguel Salazar. Design and development by Umi Syam. Additional
\n\tgame design by Eden Weingart. Video editing by Meg Felling. Photo editing by Erica Ackerberg.
\n\tIllustration art direction by Tala Safie.<\/p>\n

Illustrations by Daniel Barreto.<\/p>\n

Text and audio recording of \u201cThe More Loving One,\u201d by W.H. Auden, copyright \u00a9 by the Estate of
\n\tW.H. Auden. Reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd. Photograph accompanying Auden recording
\n\tfrom Imagno\/Getty Images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Poetry Challenge Let\u2019s learn one poem together this week. The Poetry Challenge See Full Poem & Readings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[80777,36197,9,11,10,36021,3467,47307,80778],"class_list":["post-208963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-auden","tag-books-and-literature","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-poetry-and-poets","tag-vis-design","tag-writing-and-writers","tag-wystan-hugh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}